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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Highlights From Forbes MEET: Diller and Eisner, YouTube's Chad Hurley

The Forbes MEET Forum kicked off Tuesday in Beverly Hills, as a select group of movers and shakers gathered to discuss the future of the media and entertainment at the intersection of technology. The event was kicked off with an interview of Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp, who was interviewed by Michael Eisner, former CEO and Chairman of The Walt Disney Company. Diller covered topics ranging from his opinion on old media versus new media, media aggregation, to net neutrality. Other panels included discussions of the new video revolution with Chad Hurley, CEO and Founder of YouTube and Jennifer Feikin, Director of Google MultiMediaSearch, and panels with Ross Levinsohn of Fox Interactive Media, Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners, and even actor Morgan Freeman. The highlight of the conference was Eisner's interview with Diller, who told the audience that "We're at the eve of change" from a world where "distribution led everything," and as we move away from distributors of scarcity to a new world of "plenty, rather than scarcity". Diller pointed out that because there is no longer distribution leverage or choke points, due to the Internet, there is a new audience being created that you can't buy, and where media aggregation doesn't make sense. In fact, where "as big media companies become more diversified, they become less well managed." Diller also spent a significant amount of time campaigning for net neutrality, addressing whether he would buy NBC or YouTube (Diller said neither), and the value of editorship in this new world. The Forbes MEET conference continues today in Beverly Hills.